"Captain, it is Karakura Town again. Unknown reiatsu."
Inside the Twelfth Division captain's office, third seat Akon reported with formal calm.
The man before him wore a white haori and a grotesque mask, the Twelfth Division's mad scientist, Kurotsuchi Mayuri. He was tinkering with a new device. At the report he spoke, tone impatient.
"Didn't we already inform the Second Division?"
For days now, Karakura Town had kept pinging unknown spiritual pressures, so the Technology Development Bureau had notified Second Division.
"But..." Akon hesitated, then lowered his voice. "Captain Kurotsuchi, the Soul Reaper assigned to Karakura is Kuchiki Rukia, Captain Kuchiki Byakuya's sister. Should we consult him first..."
Mayuri stopped, turning a cold gaze on Akon. "Are you suggesting I curry favor with that bastard Kuchiki Byakuya?"
"I would never."
Sweat beaded on Akon's brow. Compared to other captains, his was not only foul-tempered but terrifyingly cruel. Several Soul Reapers who had offended Mayuri had ended up as lab specimens.
Mayuri snorted and turned back to his bench. His voice went glacial. "Inform the Second Division's Punishment Corps. If they encounter Quincies in the living world, capture one for my experiments."
"Yes."
...
Another morning at school.
Tachibana Yu's body lay face down on the desk, vacant. His soul had stepped out into Soul Reaper form and lounged on the window ledge.
Kuchiki Rukia could not help asking, "Yu, why do you keep absorbing spirit energy? Can your body even store that much?"
She was endlessly curious about him. He used every free moment to draw in ambient power. Normally a Soul Reaper had limits. Once full, the body could not hold more.
"Because my body is great," Yu said lazily. "Like last time, I could lift you with one hand."
Rukia flushed scarlet. That had been when the brat hoisted her for a spanking. Just thinking of it made her grind her teeth.
"Right." Yu suddenly remembered something and looked at her. "It has been half a month since I became a Soul Reaper. How is your body recovering?"
Rukia's expression turned troubled. "I do not know why, but it is worse than before. Instead of mending, it feels like I am being swallowed by this gigai."
Normally a Soul Reaper healed slowly while residing in a gigai. Hers seemed to regress, as if she would fuse with the shell.
That bastard Urahara... Yu thought of the culprit. Hōgyoku had been hidden in Rukia's soul, and a custom gigai was meant to humanize her to protect the Hōgyoku. Aizen Sōsuke would likely already know its location. He would come for her soon.
Yu hopped down from the window and stepped up to Rukia.
"What are you doing?" she asked blankly.
"Do not move. I'm going to run a test," Yu said, face serious.
He meant to pull the Hōgyoku out. If he could, Aizen's target would shift and Rukia would be safe.
Rukia swallowed and nodded.
Then she watched, stunned, as Yu placed a hand on her chest, feeling around and giving a few experimental squeezes.
Her eyes went wide. "W-what are you doing?"
"Quiet. I'm studying," he said solemnly, continuing.
Rukia's mind spun. If not for the very real sensation, she would have thought he was doing advanced research.
After half a minute, Yu lifted his head and said gravely, "Rukia, take off your clothes. Or you can keep them on and switch to Soul Reaper form so I can see—"
BANG!
Face burning and breath short, Rukia retracted her fist and hissed, "You filthy brat. I will kill you."
Rubbing his head, Yu stood with a sigh, but a hypothesis had formed. The Hōgyoku in her was sealed with kidō. Ordinary means would not draw it out. That was a headache. He did not know kidō, and he had never seen this storage spell in the anime to learn it even in theory.
"Rukia," he said again. "I want to try one more experiment."
"Shut up," she snapped, fists clenched. If not for being in class, she would have torn him to pieces.
At that moment, homeroom teacher Ochi Misato entered, and behind her came a young man in white with glasses. The moment he stepped inside, his eyes flew wide at Yu.
A Soul Reaper flirting with a woman in a classroom?
Yu looked over and recognized him at once: Ishida Uryū, one of the last Quincies in the living world.
Feeling Yu's gaze, Uryū coughed and looked away, feigning normalcy.
"What are you pretending for?" Yu said flatly. "You think I can't feel the reiatsu in you?"
After massively boosting his sensing thread, he could pierce Uryū's cover with ease.
Uryū's face went pale, then dark. He had not expected to be exposed so easily.
Seconds later he snorted and fixed a frigid stare on Yu and Rukia. "So these are Soul Reapers. Disguised as students, flirting in class, neglecting duty. Trash, in other words."